


can't we just leave the mistletoe alone

by dracometria



Category: TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Huening Kai is a good kisser, Huening Kai kisses everyone, Huening Kai/Everyone - Freeform, Jealous Choi Soobin, Kissing, M/M, Mistletoe, Prompt Fill, TXT is a dance troupe AU, Tiny Angst, implied previous kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracometria/pseuds/dracometria
Summary: Soobin is flustered when Huening Kai kisses everyone under the mistletoe except for him.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Huening Kai
Comments: 16
Kudos: 150





	can't we just leave the mistletoe alone

**Author's Note:**

> prompt fill from curious cat ;_; thank you anon! i combined this idea with mistletoe because of the holidays~  
> "jealous soobin where kai starts to ignore soobin out of nowhere and the latter is having a hard time because of he won't pay any attention on him while he showers other members with love"
> 
> txt is a dance troupe in this au! the setting for this fic is in their company building  
> -this was originally supposed to be posted in my sookai drabble collection but it got a little long

They all have different approaches. Though most of them try to be mindful of their surroundings, Soobin goes the extra mile and avoids going into rooms with mistletoe altogether (that he knows of, of course; the mistletoe is hidden _everywhere_ ).

Huening Kai—seriously, this kid—doesn’t even look where he’s going. He’s been getting caught all day, but he just laughs it off and gives cheek kisses. 

Until he gets caught with one of the troupe members.

Taehyun is first. They’re both heading downstairs, heads close together in deep conversation when Yeonjun yells, “Hey maknaes!” and points above them. Yes, even the ceiling lights had been decorated.

Soobin, who was waiting for them downstairs with the others, expects a cheek kiss from Kai and for them to be done with it. He’s caught off guard when Kai cups Taehyun’s face and kisses him square on the lips. Taehyun looks small with Kai crowding him against the bannister, and the kiss looks a little too tender for _just_ a friendly peck. 

_“Whoa,”_ Beomgyu says, mirroring Soobin’s open mouth. “If Kai-ya’s doing _that,_ I’m avoiding him at all costs.” 

Yeonjun smirks. “Why Beomie, you scared? He’s just a cute little junior. If anything, you should be avoiding _me._ ” He raises a suggestive eyebrow. 

“Shut up, you old man,” Beomgyu scoffs, but he shyly hides behind a sweater paw anyway. 

Soobin clenches his jaw and feels oddly unsettled.

* * *

Taehyun is in the middle of taking down the stage’s mistletoe with Soobin and Yeonjun when he sees Beomgyu and Kai running to them. It looks like they didn’t receive the memo that their rehearsal was postponed.

Soobin’s eyes widen as he realizes they’re coming in through the side entrance, the only one that hasn’t been de-mistletoed yet. 

Yeonjun notices, but cackles and doesn’t say anything. Taehyun manages to get out a “Wait—” before it’s too late and they’re already over the threshold. Beomgyu curses so loudly it carries over the stage. He tries to escape back through the door, but Kai shuts the door with his arm and pins Beomgyu against it.

“Kai-ya!” Beomgyu squeaks. 

The others don’t see the mischievous grin on Kai’s face because he’s turned away from them. Beomgyu squeezes his eyes shut—why does their maknae have to be so damn disrespectful and _tall?_ Beomgyu shivers when Kai tilts his chin and kisses him firmly—he has to admit that Kai is _really_ good, but it’s a little embarrassing to enjoy it so much. Since, well. They’re _friends._ Really, why did this kid have the weirdest talents? 

“I dare you to bully me again, hyung,” Kai threatens cheerfully after they part.

Yeonjun looks over at Taehyun. It’s not that he feels threatened, but… seeing Beomgyu’s reaction, it doesn’t seem that it’s the first time they’ve kissed? 

“Does hyung need to know about what the three of you have been up to?” Yeonjun asks suspiciously. 

Taehyun smirks. “You’ll be finding out soon enough.” He glances at Soobin. He’s not sure if their leader realizes he looks agitated, fingernails digging deep into his palms. Taehyun sighs to himself. Soobin is too obvious.

* * *

Yeonjun’s turn comes up fast. 

Yeonjun and Kai are off like a shot when they hear that the catering has been delivered to their break room. Beomgyu nearly doubles over in laughter when he enters the room and sees Yeonjun and Kai against the fridge, the mistletoe perched on top of the door.

“You look nervous, Jjunie-hyung,” Kai teases, and the older scowls. He really needs this overgrown maknae to stop this habit of pushing people against flat surfaces and leaning over them with his excess height. 

“Look, I’m the best—” 

Kai quickly stops his _“I’m #1 in everything”_ rant by kissing him, and Yeonjun makes an irritated noise before he brings a hand up to tangle in Kai’s hair. 

“It really is different between people who know what they’re doing,” Taehyun comments. He drifts over to Soobin, who looks a little emotionally constipated. Taehyun’s ready to provide his support if needed. 

“Right in front of my salad?” Beomgyu chokes out. 

Soobin’s about to say something when Beomgyu throws a crouton at them, effectively breaking them apart. “Hey, some of us are trying to eat here.” Yeonjun looks a little flustered, but Kai just giggles and returns to the fridge to take out the rest of the food. 

Damn, he really was unfazed… 

“He is a _menace,_ ” Yeonjun hisses to Soobin as he sits down. “Soobin, you need to control him. Use your leader voice or something.” 

Soobin snorts. “I thought you had everything handled?” Or so Yeonjun had claimed earlier.

“Kai shouldn’t have that type of power,” Yeonjun insists. “He knows how to use it. Soobinie, you better watch your back.” Yeonjun grimaces. “Or the ceiling, I guess.” 

Soobin’s irritated, and even worse, he knows _why_ —he excuses himself and takes his lunch with him before he lashes out at anyone.

Even Yeonjun’s concerned—Soobin normally stresses easily, but he de-stresses just as quickly; however, he’d been somewhat subdued the whole day. 

“I’ll go check on him,” Beomgyu says. 

Kai looks worried.

* * *

Beomgyu knows where to find him—whenever Soobin’s stressed out, he always returns to their first studio room. It’s tiny compared to what they practice in now, but it’s full of memories. 

“Soobin~” 

Soobin looks up—he didn’t expect Beomgyu to be the one that came. Normally, it would be Kai. 

“Soobin- _hyung,_ ” he corrects without any heat. 

Beomgyu shrugs. “Are you ok? You seem down.” 

“I’ll be fine.” Soobin frustratedly runs a hand through his hair. “Don’t know why I’m feeling like this, ‘Gyu.” Soobin’s eyes narrow. Well, he has an inkling of an idea, but it seems crazy, even to him. He was so used to Kai clinging to him all the time, but recently, Kai had withdrew from him. All the excess affection their maknae used to show to him seemed to be dispersed to the rest of the group. Soobin had been so confused—what had he done wrong? Did Kai just need space? Did he feel smothered by Soobin, who babied him too much?

It’s worse today because of the damn mistletoe. With how the youngest had been shying away from him, he would be surprised if Kai even wanted to give him a cheek kiss. Not that that’s why he’s avoiding the mistletoe. He just doesn’t take kissing lightly, is all. Yeonjun teases him plenty for it. 

_(It makes his heart ache to see Kai give kisses to the other members, like Kai had not just grown apart; he had also grown up.)_

Beomgyu slings an arm around Soobin’s shoulder to comfort him. It’s not his place to say anything, but one would have to be blind not to notice the sudden distance between the group’s closest pair in the last few days. “Don’t keep everything inside, hyung. I’m here to talk if you want to.”

Soobin smiles gratefully. “Thanks, ‘Gyu.”

* * *

Soobin’s going to talk to Kai, just not today. He’s not going to ruin Kai’s Christmas when the younger had been looking forward to it all year. 

They just finished with opening their presents. Soobin almost chokes on his macaron when Kai sits down beside him. He’s hugging the giant bunny blush Soobin got for him; its ears are flopped over Kai’s arms, and Soobin really, really wishes they’ll get back to normal quickly because Kai is being devastatingly adorable and Soobin just really wants to hug him.

“Thanks, Soobinie-hyung,” Kai says shyly, and Soobin is even more confused. Kai hasn’t been shy with him since they first met three years ago, and he certainly hadn’t been shy _at all_ today. “I’m going to name him Tobin.” 

“Tobin?” Beomgyu echos. “Hey, isn’t that too close to Soobin? What if you get them confused?”

Soobin swears Kai’s blushing a little as he hides behind Tobin’s head. He’s just glad that Kai’s avoiding him slightly less. 

“Name him whatever. He’s yours,” Soobin says. He swallows the rest of the macaron before unfolding Beomgyu’s present. It’s a hoodie, but he already has one on so he pulls the one he’s wearing over his head. The slight breeze he feels notifies him that he’s pulled up his undershirt a little as well by accident, so he hurriedly puts on the new hoodie—it’s too cold in the studio without one. 

He checks himself out in the mirror. “Looks good on me, as expected. Thank ‘Gyu,” he puns, and Yeonjun almost dies laughing. The hoodie fits well, and knowing Beomgyu, it’s probably expensive too.

He sits back down to rearrange his presents. He glances at Kai, and the maknae is staring at him with an indecipherable look on his face. Kai hurriedly looks away and stands up. 

“I’m going to put Tobin away,” he announces, and Soobin would find the way he waddles away with the giant plushie funny if he wasn’t so hurt from the way Kai deliberately avoided him again. 

“Soobin-hyung, you shouldn’t have gotten him another one,” Taehyun says, hoping to distract their leader. “There’s no space left on his bed. Who knows where Tobin’s going to end up.” 

“Probably on my bed,” Soobin mutters. Well, that would have been true before. He isn’t so sure about now. “Alright.” He claps his hands. “Let’s get cleaned up and get ready for the party.”

* * *

Their company is hosting a Christmas party. Their performance is the main event of the night, and after that Soobin doesn’t plan on staying for long. He just really wants to shower and maybe get an hour’s worth of reading in before he goes to bed. 

The performance goes by without any hiccups, but someone out there _really_ didn’t want Soobin to have a peaceful end to his evening, because Yeonjun yells his name across the room and points above them. Of course, this gets everyone’s attention, and Soobin stands tensely in the door frame with Kai beside him. 

Of course it had to be when he was literal seconds from freedom… 

Soobin frowns and reaches up to tear down the mistletoe. He shakes his head at Yeonjun, but he misses what Yeonjun says because Kai is looking at him slightly teary-eyed before he bolts down the hallway. 

_Shit._ Was he crying? 

Soobin curses and gives chase, barely grabbing onto Kai’s arm before he can close the door behind him.

“Kai, wait,” Soobin says as he eases the door shut and locks it. The maknae is turned away, stubbornly refusing to look at him. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong if you don’t tell me,” Soobin implores, pulling the younger closer to him. “Stop giving me the cold shoulder.” 

Kai frowns. “You’re not doing anything wrong, hyung. I just want to be left alone.” But he doesn’t pull away.

“At least tell me why you were crying,” Soobin says anxiously, softly cradling Kai’s cheek with his hand, searching his face for answers. “Was it because I took down the mistletoe? I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable because I know you don’t want to kiss me—” 

“What?” Kai interrupts, disbelief on his face. “What makes you think that?”

“It’s really obvious you’re uncomfortable around me,” Soobin says in frustration. “You’re fine with the other members, so I assume it’s something I’m doing. Like I said, I can’t fix it if you don’t talk to me.” 

“I—” Kai’s working his jaw, but no words are coming out. “I…” 

Soobin waits patiently for him, soothingly rubbing circles in the small of Kai’s back while he struggles to find the right words. 

“I—hyung—all I want to _do_ is kiss you,” Kai says, finally looking at him, eyes bright and determined and beautiful. “It’s messing me up. I’m staring at you all the time because I can’t help myself. I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t touch you like how I used to without wanting more, or being afraid you’ll find out.” He takes a steadying breath. “You didn’t do anything wrong, hyung. It was me. I like you.” 

Soobin’s shocked—he had expected literally everything, _anything_ else, but Kai’s confession puts a name to his feelings; and he doesn’t like how Kai has a broken look on his face like he’s expecting the worst, because how, how could Soobin _not_ like him? Soobin struggles with expressing his emotions, it’s hard to explain the complexity and depth of his feelings for Kai. Finds it hard to explain why Kai’s moods affected his moods, why he always Kai by his side, why he never wants to see Kai upset, why Kai is able to comfort and cheer him up easily; there are a lot of “ _whys”_ to which Kai is the “ _because.”_

Because he likes Kai too, because today had been a day full of jealousy, because he wants it to be _him_ who—

Soobin’s hand unfurls around the mistletoe in his hand, and he raises it above their heads. It would take him a long time to explain, he’s sure, but for now, all he has is mistletoe and, “I like you too.” 

“Really?” Kai breathes, and Soobin kisses him, eager to prove himself and to erase all the kisses before him. Kai’s lips are soft and pliant and uncertain in a way he hadn’t been before with everyone else; he kisses Soobin like he’s unsure and afraid he’ll stop at any moment.

Soobin drops the mistletoe so he can place both of his hands on Kai’s waist because he can _finally_ touch again—he holds Kai tightly as they slot together in all the right places, perfectly—

Kai shivers at the touch and finally begins to respond more enthusiastically. He takes as much as he gives and tangles a hand in Soobin’s hair, guiding him to deepen the kiss. When Kai slips in his tongue, Soobin understands why Yeonjun reacted the way he did earlier, and he gets jealous all over again. 

Soobin grabs Kai’s chin in irritation and nips gently on Kai’s lower lip before licking into his mouth, insistent on making the younger forget about everyone but him.

“Soobinie—” Kai’s breath hitches as the older moves on to start pressing open-mouthed kisses on his neck, “Why do you seem a little...angry?” 

Soobin doesn’t stop what he’s doing, but he crossly says, “Why did you kiss everyone else if you liked me?” 

“I, I—” he bites his lip when Soobin sucks lightly on a sensitive area at the juncture of his neck and collarbone, “I didn’t think you would ever like me back,” he says truthfully. Kai’s skin blooms a light red underneath Soobin’s mouth, and he tries to stifle his noises, but it’s somewhat ineffective. “H-Hyung, what are you doing?” 

“Making sure everyone knows you’re mine,” Soobin almost growls, then feels completely embarrassed at his own overreaction. The mark isn’t severe enough to be called a hickey, but Kai’s pale skin makes it stand out. “I should have asked first,” Soobin says apologetically as he smoothes a thumb over the mark and pulls Kai’s sweater until it’s covered up.

“It’s ok,” Kai breathes, looking pleased. “I’m yours.” 

Soobin melts and hugs Kai closely. “I’ll be really mad if you kiss anyone else.” 

“You too,” Kai says jokingly, hastily waving his hands when Soobin pouts at him. “Kidding, kidding, I know you won’t.” He squeaks when Soobin smirks and cages him against the wall. 

“I’m going to make sure _I’m_ all you remember.” 

* * *

“That’s so gross,” Beomgyu complains. 

“Someone needs to remind them that the office has transparent windows,” Taehyun adds.

Yeonjun snaps a picture for blackmail material before smiling. “Took them long enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> i think i went too hard on the jealousy,,, this is what happens in oneshots where i can't build them up enough omg ;_; too intense
> 
> to those who have noticed i've been posting frequently, thank you for the care and well wishes ;_; i'm in this phase where i'm really excited about all my ideas, when i slow down in the future i hope everyone still looks forward to my writing! hehe ╰( ･ ᗜ ･ )╯
> 
> enjoy the holidays if you celebrate them! <3
> 
> working on:  
> 8 coupons  
> semi-angsty sookai  
> h is for helium ch 3  
> witch!au with familiars
> 
> thinking of:  
> esports au (omg they're eboys / would most likely be league of legends related since i'm most familiar with that terminology, but idk i could probably do something like an mmo (king's avatar) or fps (overwatch)) 
> 
> any requests/prompts to <https://curiouscat.me/dracometria> ❤⃛ヾ(๑❛ ▿ ◠๑ )


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